Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 14.7 A “periodic table” of emergence. The crudely estimated half-time of the emergence at each level is indicated in the parentheses in the unit of
seconds. What is periodically and recursively occurring in this table is Process 14.16
Field (time scale)
C
A
B
M
1. Physics
(~10
12
s)
Rigidity superconductivity superfluidity
(Anderson 1972)
Atoms
Atoms
Coupled motions of atoms
2. Chemistry
(~10
6
s)
Spontaneous reorganization of atoms in
molecules (e.g., formation of H
2
O)
H
2
O
2
Electronic rearrangements via molecular
collisions or absorption of photons
3. Enzymology
(~1 s)
Environmentally selected reorganization of
atoms in molecules (e.g., selection of
L- isomers from a mixture of
L
- and
D
-optical isomers)
Molecule
Molecule
Electronic rearrangements within active sites
of biopolymers
4. Cell biology
(~10
2
s)
Organized motions of groups of molecules
and ions (e.g., chemotaxis, mitosis,
cell cycle, release of autoinducers)
Molecules
and
ions
Molecules
and ions
Cell-controlled organization of intracellular
physicochemical interactions
(i.e., interactomes)
5. Developmental
Biology (~10
6
s)
Organized motions of cells (e.g., quorum
sensing, ontogeny)
Cells
Cells
Cell-cell communication using the cell
language
6. Sociology
(~10
10
s)
Organized motions of organisms (e.g., ant
nest building, social network formation
on the Internet)
Organisms
Organisms
Organism-organism communication using
symbolic languages
7. Evolutionary
Biology
(~10
13
s)
Emergence of new phenotypes
(see Fig.
14.1
)
Organisms
Environment
Variations of individuals, reproduction
through social interactions, and natural
selection via social and environmental
interactions
8. Cosmology
(~10
15
s)
Organized motions of particles, planets,
stars, galaxies, clusters, superclusters
(e.g., hydrogen atoms, hydrogen
molecules, Moon, Earth, the sun, the
solar system, the Milky Way Galaxy)
Particles
Particles
Interactions among particles mediated by the
gravitational, electroweak, and strong
forces under the guidance of cosmological
symmetry principles such as the recently
suggested gnergy tetrahedron (Ji 2004b)
